Doc: If MLB replay isn't perfect, what good is it?

Reds manager Bryan Price (38) questions a call with first base umpire Greg Gibson during the first inning of Sunday's game at Turner Field. Price was ejected for arguing after a replay upheld a call at first base.(Photo: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports)

First things first: Replay in sports is a crime against civilization. Games are attended by humans, played by humans, coached/managed by humans and officiated by humans. One thing about humans – something that makes them, you know, human – is they make the occasional mistake.

Which is OK, mostly. Except in sports.

The umpires missed a call in Atlanta Sunday. Johnny Cueto picked B.J. Upton off first base. Clearly, from these eyes. A still photo caught the moment, and reinforced it: Upton was out. Surely, replay would fix this. The eye in the sky doesn't lie.

Replay missed it. Was the guy in New York minding the TV screens wearing a Braves cap? Did he have that foam finger working some Chop? Bryan Price argued. Arguing a replay ruling is an automatic ejection. Because replay is, apparently, infallible. Except when it isn't. Replay is. . . human? To which we have to ask: If replay isn't perfect, what good is it?

That's the argument for replay, yeah? That technology affords us the ability to Get It Right?

B.J. Upton is called safe by first base umpire Greg Gibson. The call was reviewed and it was ruled that it would stand.(Photo: MLB.tv)

There are other issues with replay. If a manager loses a challenge, he doesn't get another. How is that assuring Rightness? Replay all close plays, or don't replay any of them. Then, there is the issue of the Transfer Rule, which has Baseball starting to sound numbingly like the NFL:

"Umpires and/or replay officials must consider whether the fielder had secured possession of the ball but dropped it during the act of the catch. An example of a catch that would not count is if a fielder loses possession of the ball during the transfer before the ball was secured by his throwing hand."

Oh.

Is that anything like crossing the invisible plane?

A good thing about baseball is, it's not all uptight and buttoned down. Sometimes, baseball is messy, as when a manager gets weird with an umpire. That's part of baseball's charm, or haven't you seen Lou Piniella throwing the base and George Brett leaping out of the dugout?

Adding replay to baseball games is like pouring molasses on maple syrup. Baseball is losing generations of young people, partly because it can take longer to play a baseball game than to perform simple surgery. (Come to think of it, their paces are similar.) Attention spans being what they are, anything that extends a ballgame's length isn't a great marketing strategy.

Not that the NFL is any better. In fact, so far, baseball replays are eyeblinks compared with some of football's five-minute time-wasters. Replay in the NFL disrupts flow and saps momentum. It doesn't do that in baseball. There is no momentum in baseball.

But if you're going to pour molasses on maple syrup, it better taste good, every time, and be used every time it's needed. I don't drive a new car that starts most of the time, or wear a watch that tells time kind of accurately. A replay system should be as dependable as a sunrise.

A big reason for replay, it has been argued, is that it would have preserved the would-be perfect game thrown four years ago, by then-Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga. Galarraga was an out from perfection when first base umpire Jim Joyce blew a call on a close play at first base. What should have been an out was instead an infield hit.

Joyce later sobbed, and apologized publicly to Galarraga for his mistake. Galarraga responded by saying, "Nobody's perfect.''

It might have been the most egregious blown call in decades. It was also among the finest examples of sportsmanship and grace. Which is more big-picture important?

You're a parent at the dinner table with 14-year-old Sammy and 12-year-old Sue. You're offering a life lesson on how to handle a tough situation. Do you say to Sammy and Sue, "That umpire oughta be fired! How dare he ruin a perfect game!''

Or do you say to them, "What the umpire did took a tremendous amount of courage and character. Not everything in sports is about getting it right. It's also about conducting yourself with class in a difficult situation.''

How do they get that lesson from a replay monitor?

And we haven't even mentioned Galarraga, a journeyman pitcher whose six-year major league career ended in 2012 with a 26-34 lifetime record. He was never the most likely guy to throw a perfect game. We didn't hear him complaining how cheated he was.

Nobody is perfect. Nothing is perfect. Until it is, we have no need for it.